~°°~Every empty hole can be filled with the peace one derives from reading the Qur'an~°°~

Abuja, Nigeria. 9th January, 2022. 3: 54 pm.

It had been a week already, many things have happened, some were ecstatic while some were gloomy.

Imran returned to camp and their team (erudite team) the bomb disposal squad of seven people was posted to the square brigade camp, it was going to be a new camp because no team was ever posted there.

"Should we stop here?" Lieutenant Raymond whom they called Ray asked, he was driving the car. "No Lieutenant Ray, let's move a bit further" Sayf replied using his hand to cover the scorching sun above their heads. Ray just replied with a simple 'ok'.

"I see no reason why they posted us to such a place, no team has ever been posted here" Imran complained. "Captain IM, the town just keeps on expanding, and bombs just keep on exploding hence the army has to take measures before the people who move to places around here get blasted into thin air" Zanna being the one who always jokes around even when they are in danger, replied to Imran.

"Halt here" Sayf's voice came through and Ray being the one who was driving stopped the car at his order and also the other military car behind them stopped. Not because any of them was afraid of him, but because of how cold he was towards everyone, he doesn't allow people much into his life. He speaks to them but not as much even though their occupational relation made them his only friends.

They got off the car unloading the luggage they had.

They kept them aside and started building up the tents, it took them long enough before they finished setting up all the four tents, one being a little bigger than two and one being the smallest among them. Sayf stayed in the smallest tent, Imran, Ray & Jabir in the biggest one, Zanna & Hameed (being the trainee) in one and Aliyu & Abdul-Jalal in one.

Sayf allowed them to rest for few minutes before he later stepped out of his tent and called onto them.

"Erudite team" he shouted making everyone to step out from the tents. They lined up, saluted him and stood at attention, Imran stood behind him as the captain and the two faced the line of soldiers.

"Our responsibility and duty is to render safe procedures to improvised explosive devices and suspected I.E.D(s) and to also conduct post blast investigation of bombings. Seeing that you all know this and you're hardworking and committed to your duties, I hope you will continue with that. But to remind the forgetful, I will remind all of you of your duties" Sayf voiced as he stood with one of his hands behind his back while the other in his army trouser pocket.

"Lieutenant Raymond Joseph, Jabir Mustapha Saeed, Zanna Muhammad Saifullah and Abdul Jalal Sambo will be on patrol for the first week of our one month here. Lieutenant Zanna being the one providing bomb suit for the whole team Lieutenant Raymond and Jabir being the ones to approach and inspect suspected bombs and Lieutenant Abdul Jalal being the one to contact the rest of the team, most importantly the captain and I. Lieutenant Aliyu Mahmoud will be handling computer data and tracking devices from the control tent while Captain Imran Al-amin will be in charge of the health and safety of the recruited team as their military doctor and also the post blast investigation to recognise the producers of the explosives will be conducted by him" Sayf stated clearly standing with a straight posture.

"I will be the one to disarm founded bombs and explosives and also will assist captain Imran with the post blast investigation"

"As of the new trainee, he will have to play the role of each of the soldiers in this team, depending on where he's needed, I hope I'm clear Recruit Hameed Abubakar?" He asked facing Hameed directly, Hameed without an ounce of nervousness voiced "yes sir"

"Good. Everyone will start their duties tomorrow morning, in a mean time, pass the night with whatever seems fit to you" Sayf said. His sentence made all of them to cheer up as they were already seeing themselves enjoying the night while he walked back into his tent silently.

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Few minutes later, he heard a salaam at the entrance of his tent, he kept the book that was keeping him engaged and headed towards the opening of the tent. He came out to find Imran and Jabir standing at the door, Jabir being behind the former.

"Sir, please join us" Imran said smiling at him, he didn't budge at that. He screeched his brows and turn to look at the direction where the bonfire was, they kept boulders round the little fire. "Ok, give me a minute, I'll be there" Sayf voiced.

They nodded their heads and went back to meet the others by the bonfire while he went in and changed into a simple shirt leaving only his military trousers on. He closed the book he was reading earlier and kept it under his pillow before he stepped out of his tent to sit with the others.

"Ok ok, you all. Everyone is going to tell us about his girlfriend or wife today, what do you say?" Zanna suggested after Sayf joined them and they all cheered in agreement well except Sayf.

"That's fine but first, one of you should tell me how you got chicken and drinks when we didn't bring anything like that along" Imran said giving a questioning look to each one of them.

"You are the one who didn't bring anything, we did. I secretly kept the chicken and drinks just few minutes from leaving the base, I guess it's worth it" Jabir explained and Imran just nodded in understanding, Sayf was impressed by that. What a team he has, his friends he thought.

"Ok so, who'll start?" Aliyu asked. "I will choose who will start" Zanna volunteered

"Hameed should start since he's new amongst us" Zanna added and that made Hameed's eyeballs to almost bulge out. "I...I..I" he stammered, not because that's how he talks but because he wasn't expecting the whole thing to start with him. "I what Hameed?" Jabir asked teasingly. "We know there is, just tell us" Zanna added.

"There isn't actually, the girl I liked didn't like me back" he shrugged. "She disgraced me in front of all her friends, I was offended but didn't retaliate. She was the reason I decided to join the army, to make my heart stone so I wouldn't ever fall in love again" he added explaining and taking a sip of his warm Fanta, there was no such place where they'll see ice or freezer in that place, so they drank their drinks warm.

"Mata Sai a hankali" Ray said in his funny Hausa accent which made them laugh, Sayf's lips didn't even twit.

"Next is Jabir" and that was how they kept asking each and everyone, Zanna's turn was the last among them. Everyone except Hameed, Imran and Sayf had girlfriends, Ray among them was the only one who had a wife.

They later started playing puzzle game which was also brought by Jabir, that guy was a sneaking criminal, everyone noticed that from the very time they became a team.

Not once did Sayf fail the puzzle game which left them all stunned, his words exactly "A puzzle that has not been solved didn't come to me, because there isn't any puzzle that cannot be solved by me"

That particular statement made everyone speechless except for Imran who didn't stop himself from smiling at Sayf's words.

"Love major, love. It is a puzzle I don't think you'll ever be able to solve"

True to Imran's words, love was the only puzzle he couldn't solve. He couldn't solve the love he had for his family, nor the love he had for Iman, loving anyone else was a whole different matter, close to impossible. Sayf didn't say anything regarding his opinion, he just decided to call it a night to go have a time to himself.

The time when everything about his life from the very beginning flashes through his eyes, a time he doesn't look forward to every night but still comes, the time of loneliness and also the time he despised the most, the night.

~°°~Every empty hole can be filled with the peace one derives from reading the Qur'an~°°~



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Tauhida just keeps on getting interesting, I really enjoyed writing this chapter, I don't know why exactly.

If you remember, I told you the meaning of her name in the last chapter so I'm going to tell you the meaning of his name in this chapter. The name Sayf means "sword" in Arabic but it has another form which means "sublime"

This is Sayf with his friends, we will see Tauhida with her friends in the next chapter insha Allah.

Lots of love Deedi--❤️